


One Last Hope

by Cloudyerd11



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Family Dynamics, Family Secrets, Gen, Hiding in Plain Sight, Hope, Hope vs. Despair, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Lives, Secrets, The Avengers Need a Hug, past trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2020-11-07 22:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20825141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudyerd11/pseuds/Cloudyerd11
Summary: Things haven't been remotely the same since the Avengers' victory against Ultron in Sokovia. Despite each member of the original team signing the accords, most people are still on edge about if the Avengers can truly be trusted. After the Avenger's most recent - and surprise - fight against Loki goes sideways, it opens the door for the villain to force everyone in the world to lose hope in the heroic group of six. Forced into hiding, the Avengers find themselves about as far off the grid as they can get, doing everything they can to make things right...Grace has been a normal girl just trying to stay under the radar her entire life. That is until the Avengers show up on her doorstep claiming that she is the only one who can help them. Thrusted into a dream - more like a nightmare - lifestyle, Grace must find a way to continue on with her everyday responsibilities, help her newly acquainted "friends" and keep some family secrets safe all at the same time.(Set in an alternate time after Age of Ultron and before Infinity War)





	1. Nothing More than a Midgardian

Tony opened his eyes, each screen within his helmet blinding him. There was a faraway voice that he could faintly hear - saying something about a head injury - but he couldn’t distinguish who the voice was. A small tap came from outside his faceplate, the blinking and blurring lights leaving him unable to make out the person’s face.

The billionaire’s lips began to move, but his own ears couldn’t tell what he was saying. Fresh air blasted his face as the helmet around him opened back into the suit, and Tony could start picking up the sounds of the fight and chaos around him.

Above him stood a figure wearing a suit in red, white, and blue, holding a circular shield with the same color coordination. The man was directed towards him, but Tony could clearly hear the shouts and explosions behind him. Tony coughed at the smoke, both his lungs and shoulders aching at the dense smoke around them.

“Stark. You alright in there?” Asked his teammate. Tony responded with a nod, reaching up to take Cap’s hand. The soldier held him by the shoulders in caution when he got to his feet, swaying slightly back and forth. Tony gave Cap an appreciative smile, turning to face the fight before them.

A God in forest green with gold and black highlights stood on a large piece of cement, laughing maliciously, glancing down at the rough-for-wear team below him. A large cape billowed out behind him, his scepter gleaming with blue light in the center of the sea of gold.

“Look how far you’ve come,  _ Avengers _ ,” the Aesir villain taunted. An evil smile plastered his face, the curved golden helmet reflecting a few of the flames around them. “Defeated and begging for mercy.”

A voice came from Tony’s left, but the pounding headache along with his internal thoughts drowning out the sound. How was all of this happening? It wasn’t too long ago that the Asgardian God of Mischief had attacked, and this wasn’t anything compared to an alien attack threatening the entire world, so what was different here? They had defeated him before - that’s how the Avengers started - so what were they doing wrong this time?

Oh, right. Last time they didn’t have the Accords.

Those blasted Accords. Ever since the team agreed to sign the restricting documents, they haven’t been themselves. Now they had new orders, and with that came new tactics, new dynamics. It came with less freedom to fight how they choose.

Tony was beginning to regret his decision.

“We’re not going anywhere, Loki,” Cap answered, the sudden volume of his voice causing Tony to flinch away. “Whatever your intentions are, we’re going to stop you.”

“Oh, I highly doubt that unfortunately for you. You may have taken that victory last time, but I’m ensuring there are no flaws now. In fact, it isn’t even up to me how long you Avengers go on, but we’ll not get into that at the moment. We have far more important matters at hand…”

“What do you mean ‘it’s not up to you’?” Tony asked, Loki’s subtle words grabbing his attention. He knew how ridiculous he looked from the villain’s angle - now heavily leaning on Cap’s shoulder - but the concussion wracking his brain was eliminating his ego-factor at the moment. “You’re the one who’s leading the fight. You can stop whenever you want.”

The Asgardian visibly sighed. “Of course you don’t see the full picture just yet. You’re nothing more than a Midgardian in a metallic suit.”

Despite his current state, Tony made a movement forward, but Cap held him back. Loki responded with another evil smile, staring at the feeble and irate Iron Man. Tony simply stared back, knowing that Loki was daring to try, but Tony wasn’t foolish enough to fall for it.

Loki’s smile shortened as he stooped up straighter. The end of his scepter raised off the ground by a few inches before returning with a hard slam. A few sparks wisped away where the metal met the cement, while the stone at the top glowed vibrantly. In his opposite outstretched hand, a small glowing sphere appeared, the Avengers going into defense position in their different stages of exhaustion. The sphere was a dark blue and covered with dots of light. The points glowed brightly, forming outlines for the different continents on earth.

“This, Avengers, is a view of your pointless little world. Each light represents one person who has placed their pathetic, Midgardian faiths in you. Metaphorical, isn’t it?” smiled Loki. “If all of these dots vanish, there will be no hope for you. No one will have trust or hope for your miserable lives.

Tony looked at Cap, thankful that it wasn’t just his concussed mind that didn’t understand. “So? We have supporters  _ and _ haters all across the world already. Your nightlight won’t change anything, and it certainly won’t keep us from knocking that ridiculous helmet off your head.”

“Won’t it though?”

“Can you just skip the charade and get to the explanation please?” Natasha blatantly stated, taking a step forward. She may have had a small stream of blood on her cheek, but she still held her honorary  _ Black Widow _ composure.

“You Midgardians are all the same, always wanting the same thing - you’re desperate for attention. You’re dying for it, begging for just a drop of that one thing you think you’re so deprived of. And for what? To continue wanting more, as if what you are already given isn’t enough?” Loki motioned at the team in front of him, the orb still floating above his palm. “You six are no better.”

It was Natasha’s turn to look like she wanted to kill Loki.

“What do you come by with this, Brother?” the other Asgardian said, watching his brother with confusion and concern.

“What happens to you Avengers when there is no one to fight for? When there is no reason for you to protect or defend?” Tony watched Loki’s hand tighten around the scepter. “What happens to you when no one is willing to help you? What would you do if no one cared if you are here or if you simply vanished off the face of your useless earth? Tell me Avengers… what would you do if - in their minds - you simply didn’t exist?”

Tony’s eyes widened as the Asgardian lifted his scepter once more. Off to his left, Hawkeye fired an arrow at Loki, unknown if it was to catch him off guard or out if fearful instincts. Loki, seeing the movements of the archer, responded with a pulse of green magic. He spun - arrow in his dust-like grip - and directed the arrow straight at Tony.

There was nothing he could do as the arrow struck his arc-reactor, penetrating the suit’s defense and the device’s own. A blinding explosion ripped through the air, sending everyone in opposite directions and Tony straight into a metal structure behind him.

His eyes were heavy as he opened them, everything once again unable to be heard. Sweat and blood dripped into his vision, adding to the faint vision that was blurring around the edges. Tony looked around as much as he could, only seeing the empty spot where Loki was standing a few moments before, one of his blurred teammates trying to get up a few feet away, and a small yellow and blue shape a foot from his face.

With a gasp, Tony reached out a shaky hand, grasping the small orb and pulling it to his face. The surface was changing and becoming bluer. Tony blinked, thinking there was something in his eye that was causing the color change, but no. He watched in horrified shock as the yellow dots flickered off one at a time on every continent, only taking a few seconds for the entire surface to turn dark blue.

Tony’s concussed mind screamed at him from the overload of information hitting him harder than the first explosion. The same words were echoing in his mind, drowning out the ringing and emptiness around him.  _ We’ve failed _ . Loki was gone and he had defeated them.  _ He won _ . The worlds had watched the Avengers lose to a villain they had already defeated. Tony wanted to throw up. He could feel the energy of everything and everyone around him fading away. His mind could already see the headlines and press titles: no one trusting or believing in them anymore.

They are the Avengers,  _ the  _ Avengers. Their job is to protect everyone, give them a sense of safety and hope, bring peace and security to the people of the world, but now that was gone. They had failed the people of New York, of the world. No one held hope in them anymore.

They were now reduced to nothing.


	2. No One Else Seemed to Notice

Grace walked down the crowded hall, living in her own little world like she does every day. Those who passed close to her could hear the faint echo of the music playing in her headphones, but it was drowned out for others by the normal volume of the fourth-period passing hour. She looked blankly ahead of her, avoiding the eyes of anyone who might even remotely know her. It’s not that she’s being rude, she just didn’t like small social interactions. Or any social interactions for that matter. It’s just who she is.

Or at least how she raised herself to be.

A buzzing in her pocket grabbed her attention as she turned the corner, the hallway letting out into a crowded cafeteria. She instinctively reached for it, recognizing the distinctive and specialized vibration as the one for her best friend.

_ Where are you _ ?

Grace frowned at the text message. She and Laureen had each other’s schedules memorized by heart; that was one of the things they chose to do. For Laureen - who was coming from Algebra - it was more for a simple appreciation of knowing where her reserved friend was, but for Grace - who just finished with History - it was for security more than anything. 

The person in front of her stopped, Grace running into them. She mumbled a short apology and moved around them, only to be stopped by another student. It wasn’t until she looked up from her phone that she realized everyone was frozen in place.

_ Pff _ , she thought dismissively.  _ Some freshmen got into a fight again _ . 

Grace had never been one to stop what she was doing to watch a fight - she could care less over who won over who - it was just the rest of her classmates that were entertainment seeking wolves. She tried to move around the massive crowd - even backtracking a few steps - but she only continued to run into statues. She stole a peek at those on the catwalk overlooking the cafeteria, becoming even more confused when she saw they had stopped moving too.

_ What the hell _ ?

Grace finally stopped herself, her security dropping instantly. She took one of her paused earbuds out, the sounds of murmured shock and confusion echoing around the large space.

“I can’t believe this.”

“How is this happening?”

“This is fake right?”

“You’re seeing this right?”

Grace squinted at her fellow classmates, listening intently but not coming anywhere close to understanding. This had to be way bigger than a fight, but none of the murmurs seemed to explain what was happening. What could cause such confusion like this?

An unexpected tap on her shoulder caught her attention with a flinch. She turned expectedly, finding Laureen staring up at her. A video was playing on the blue-cased phone in her hands, something with the appearance of a news report at the first glance, but that’s not what was holding Grace’s attention. It was the river of tears streaming down her best friend’s face.

“EL? What’s wrong?”

“You haven’t seen… I’ve been sending you texts for minutes straight now?”

“I turned off my notifications before my history test last hour. Why? What’s…?

Laureen’s phone was right before her face before she could finish her question. It was a news report, the large red banner across the bottom giving out the answer to all her questions.

_ Avenger’s under attack in Central Park _ .

The pit in her stomach opened up, her eyes growing wide as she took the phone. She held the phone so both of them could clearly watch the live stream playing before them. Grace could see Captain America and Iron Man - she didn’t point out how Iron Man was heavily leaning on his fellow teammate - the rest of the Avengers spread out on either side of them. The scene around them was terrifying enough as it was filled with ash and smoke, but the worst part was the gold and green villain standing above the injured team.

Grace stared at the villain, trying to keep her fear and anger from visibly showing. It was him, the one who attacked New York the first time. He was the one who opened that wormhole above Avengers tower, the one who brought Aliens to Earth. He’s the one who killed all those people, those people who were innocent, those people who had families and kids.

He’s the man who ruined everything.

While it was a live stream, no words were being spoken through the phone, but it was clear the Avengers and the villain were having an intense conversation. In one swift motion, Hawkeye loaded an arrow, firing it at the villain, but he couldn’t be hoodwinked that easily. He grabbed the arrow with a burst of green magic, spinning around and shooting it back, only this time it was aimed at the Iron Man. A large blinding flash of light filled the screen, the live stream going black as the connection was lost.

The entire student body had stopped breathing, nothing but stunned silence filling the large cafeteria. No one - not even Grace - could believe what they were watching. Something in the air broke, the space-filling with the simultaneous release of disbelieving tears.

Laureen fell into Grace, burying her head in her shoulder. Grace instinctively wrapped her arms around her best friend, stunned as her friend continued crying her river of tears.

To Grace, everything around her turned dark. A shiver ran down her spine, feeling the moral of everyone falling around her like a heavy wool carpet smothering a flame. She looked around to see if anyone else had picked it up, but no one else seemed to notice, not moving from their defeated stances. Maybe she was imagining it - her mind playing tricks on her out of shock - but she could have sworn she had felt something wasn’t right, something unnatural.

All around her, classmates were giving up, their faith’s and securities disappearing. They weren’t angry or fearful, but rather defeated and lost.

Everyone around Grace was losing hope.

Then why wasn’t she? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if posting a new chapter day is going to become a regular thing since I'm super busy, but hopefully, I will. Again, please let me know what you think!


	3. Beginning to Hallucinate

“Stark, you here?”

Tony blinked a few times, leaving his day-dreaming trance. He looked around the conference room at his fellow teammates, feeling slightly embarrassed for drifting off during a team meeting. It wasn’t uncommon. He always drifted off during meetings. But not ones that were as important as this.

“Yea…” he answered half-heartedly, his mind completely distracted from the situation in front of him. He couldn’t stop repeating the moment in his head, the one that had completely ruined him. No, it wasn’t Loki defeating them or watching as the entire world lost hope in them. Not at all.

It was the conversation he had with Peter right before this.

Tony had come back from the fight, tired and in a severe amount of pain. When he walked into his shop, the last thing he was expecting was to see Peter there with a duffel bag, frantically filling it with belongings off his workbench.

“Hey, Kid. Where are you going?”

Peter spun around, anxiety and surprise plastered on his face. “Oh… hey Mr. Stark… um… It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“It’s alright Kid. You can tell me.”

“I, ah… um… well.”

“Peter…”

“I just have to go, Mr. Stark,” the teenager answered, not looking up. “I’m sorry. I have to.”

And for a brief second, Peter’s eyes flickered up, meeting with Tony’s. The iron man felt as though he had been stabbed in the gut. The light that Peter always carried in his eyes - similar to a little kid looking at the world around him - of brightness, ignorance, and cheer has completely disappeared.

Peter doesn’t believe in him anymore.

“Tony, we need you to focus,” Natasha continued, looking at him with crossed arms. “This is serious.”

“I know…”

“Good.” Natasha turned back to the captain, still dawned in his tactical gear. Anyone who walked in the room could tell he hadn’t gotten much sleep, for his shoulders were hunched and eyes were drooping, even as he leaned on the glass meeting-room table.

“We have to do something,” he spoke, his voice expressing his exhaustion for him. “Whether it’s going after Loki again or looking into what magic that orb holds, we can’t just sit around and do nothing.

“How do we know that Loki isn’t lying?” Barton said, showing his expression with his hands. “That’s his thing right? Deception? Who’s to say that he’s not tricking us with that orb thing?”

“Because he isn’t,” Tony finally answered, not taking his eyes off the spot on the table. All five pairs of eyes turned to him, but he could tell from the air alone that they were giving him curious and semi-shocked expressions.

“Tony if this is about Peter…” Cap started.

“Don’t,” Tony replied instinctively. He couldn’t talk about Peter, not right now. He couldn’t take anything more than what was already filling his anxiety-induced mind.

A familiar wave of shivers ran over him, one that he hadn’t felt since right after the first attack on New York when he was sitting in a restaurant where he broke a crayon or driving to investigate AIM when that kid had told him his armor wasn’t charging.

Tony knew he couldn’t handle it anymore. He couldn’t have an anxiety attack right now, not when the entire world was losing its mind and when he was in front of the rest of the team. He had to get out of there before his brain exploded. 

Before he completely lost it.

He promptly walked out of the conference room, despite the pleas and comments from those behind him. Completely lost in the empty space he called his mind, Tony didn’t see the glass door to his workshop until he practically walked into it. When he opened the door, he was greeted by DUMMY, who chirped at him with welcoming and - if you could understand the robot - concern.

The frustrated mechanic sat down in his chair with just enough force, the chair itself on the borderline point of collapsing. This stressed out the man even more because that is exactly what he needed right now, a chair breaking under him and leaving him only on the floor, which frankly didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Holding his head in his hands, Tony turned his attention towards his breathing, the words of his best friend echoing in his mind and helping him breathe to the point he wasn’t lightheaded anymore. Even after his heartbeat had calmed to a normal level, Tony listened to the Rhodey in his mind, because it was truly the only thing he could think about to help him right now. When the question of  _ “what if Rhodey is thinking like Peter right now” _ came across his mind, he physically forced the idea away.

He couldn’t -  _ shouldn’t _ \- be thinking about that right now.

Taking a final deep breath and running his hands down his face, Tony interlaced his fingers and held them in front of his face, an act that was somewhat calming and normal for him. He turned his head, looking at the small dark blue orb as it floated on his projector tripod.

That cursed orb. It was the reason for all of this, somehow.

Despite his initial reaction - and him being the one to watch all the orange specs disappear from its surface - in the back of his mind he didn’t believe what Loki was trying to tell them. He thought it was a trick, just like Barton had suggested, one to throw them off his game. But then he watched as the bystanders began to walk away, not run away as in getting to safety, but walk away like nothing was happening. He witnessed people not looking in their direction as they collected themselves enough to get back on the quinjet.

And finally, when he ran into Peter on his way out the door.

Tony reached towards the orb with his one open hand, the other one clenched in partially-controlled anger. He had to get rid of that thing -  _ wanted _ to get rid of it. He wanted to crush it, break it, shatter it into a million pieces; burn it if he was given the chance. He wanted to hurl that cursed object across the room, as if doing so would instantly result in Peter running back into the room, almost in tears as he excessively apologized for the mistake he’d made like he always did.

A small flash ran across a portion of the orb’s surface.

Tony froze, hand hovering over the dark blue sphere as it continued it's spinning. Did he imagine it? Was his mind officially so mentally broken that he was beginning to hallucinate? Those questions among others continued to echo in his mind as he wrapped his hand around to orb, holding it gently in his grip. He turned it as carefully as possible, only stopping when the faint outline of North America was facing him and he took in a sharp breath.

There it was, a small orange dot. It was barely visible, its light dulled by that from the orb itself. It flickered just left of the center of the continent, but Tony wasn’t quite sure what state it was in. But that didn’t necessarily matter at the moment. The more important matter at hand was there’s still one person who believes. One, single, minuscule life out of 7.8 billion that still accepted them.

This could be their answer. This person - whoever they are - could help them get out of this confusing mess of a situation they’re in. They could help them get everyone’s faith back.

There’s still hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow. I finally finished this chapter. It only took a year - eeks - but we still made it.
> 
> I guess that it's pretty evident that since it took a year to post an update to this story that I'm having some trouble planning the story itself. So... I'm turning to you guys for help! If you have any suggestions or want to see anything in the upcoming chapters, please let me know in the comments below! I will look at each comment with an open mind and will definitely take the suggestions you guys give if they make sense to the story so please! Help me out!
> 
> Thanks for sticking around everyone! And keep on smiling!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I know it has been a really long time since I've updated this story (a whole year in fact), so I'm officially starting the story back up. I'll be posting as often as I can between life and updating other stories, and will keep this going until the end. Thanks for sticking around this long, and if you're new, welcome! I'm so glad to have you!


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